Carer James Dalley sentenced for having sex with schoolgirl he was looking after

The court heard James Dalley slept with the 16-year-old twice in one day

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A carer who had sex twice with a schoolgirl on the first day he was supposed to be looking after her has been spared a jail sentence.

27-year-old James Dalley of Wyndhams, Wiveliscombe, had known the teenager for a short while before he was assigned as her carer and Nikki Coombe, prosecuting, said he had been ‘very nice’ to her, telling her she was ‘his favourite’.

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Taunton Crown Court heard that on the day he was assigned as her carer, he had several inappropriate conversations with her, asking her if she watched pornography and telling her about his sexual relationship with his girlfriend.

“He took her out for the day and then took her to his address,” Mrs Coombe said.

“When they arrived, he pulled her into his lap and told her not to say anything and began kissing her. That kissing led to sex.”

Later that night, he took her out once again in his car, parking up in a layby and having sex in the back of his car.

“The next day he quit his job, texting his boss to say he had left the keys in the car park, had a panic attack and just ‘couldn’t do the job anymore’,” Mrs Coombe said.

“The girl had asked his bosses if he could look after her more often. It was some time before she told a friend what had happened and Dalley was arrested.”

At a police interview, Dalley originally denied anything had happened between them, before later making an appointment with officers and admitting the truth.

At an earlier court hearing he admitted a charge of abusing of a position of trust by engaging in sexual activity with a child.

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In a victim impact statement, the teenager said she was now distrustful of people who were supposed to be looking after her, and her personality had ‘changed’ as a result of the incident.

Defending, Joseph Wright said Dalley had made a ‘huge error of judgement’.

“His decision has affected him profoundly,” he said. “He took himself out of that environment, and came clean to the police. He wasn’t want to reduce the seriousness of what he had done, but said the girl was very sexualised.”

Sentencing him, Judge David Evans said: “Twice you had consensual sex with a 16-year-old girl, abusing your position of trust as her carer at the time.

“You had sex with her twice on the very first day you were allocated to look after her. No carer should take advantage of the subtle power they have.

“You took advantage of someone very much younger than you. You didn’t just use her, you abused her. It was your responsibility to refrain from touching her – what on earth were you thinking? In my view the custody threshold wasn’t just crossed – you sailed right past it.”

But taking into account Dalley’s previous good character and "clear remorse" for his actions, he sentenced him to a three year community order, and ordered him to carry out rehabilitation activities for up to 70 days.

He was also made to sign the sexual offenders register and told to pay £500 costs.